Photos

How do you get your pictures? I find that ordering them online is the cheapest way. Our printer is one of those photo printers but I find that the ink and paper cost can't compete with the cost of just ordering them online.

Is that just because they buy supplies in bulk so they can limit the costs? I assume that they aren't doing something that much cheaper but the prices aren't even close. Clearly bulk pricing plays a part.

Sure it's cool if you need a pic printed quickly but I don't find myself ever doing that. Do you?

College Costs

I read that this past year college loans topped 1 billion dollars for the first time ever. Clearly this is a problem. You have to stop and think about how this is affecting people. These loans are basically inescapable which causes two problems. One, you can't get out of them if your life takes a turn for the worse. You shouldn't declare bankruptcy to avoid debt but sometimes bad things happen and you have no choice. Two, it allows the colleges to charge insanely high amounts because they know that they are guaranteed to get it, and the kids will pay it. Something needs to be done. These aren't rv loans that people are choosing to get for fun, they affect the livelihoods of a lot of people.

Coupons

I love coupons. I should rephrase that slightly. I love the coupons that my wife finds. I'm not terribly good at it but I have seen how amazing they can be when put to good use. We have had stores pay us on several occasions to take merchandise out of their stores. Gotta love that.

Some stores cost a lot and so if you can find coupons to make the cost more manageable then it can make all the difference. Take for instance this site with pottery barn coupons. Pottery Barn has great stuff but is typically out of our price range. The right coupon could make all the difference. Especially one that is for 50% off!!

Christians and Science

I'm finding that more and more Christians are coming to the conclusion that science isn't the enemy. You don't have to believe sill and ridiculous things because you believe in God. There are even Christians in Geneticist Jobs. I recently read a book written by one and instead of being bothered by the evidence for evolution, he was encouraged by it because, to him, that was just one more discovery of how God made what he made. What does it matter how it was done? Whether you believe God was behind it or not, we can all learn and understand how things work and not have to be worried about what it says about our faith.

V02 Max

One thing I learned in my running career was that there really is a difference in the physical makeup of some people. It isn't always someone's ability to work harder. For instance, when we would run repeats in cross country practice, my heart rate was always far higher than any of my teammates. We didn't hook up an ekg or anything but pulse rates were enough to tell the story.

So my bodies ability to process oxygen efficiently was significantly less than the other guys. This plays out a lot in cycling as well. That's why these guys get blood transfusions and such. It's to increase the white blood cells in their body so that they could process more oxygen.

Not much you can do about that I don't think, besides sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber.

Bug Attractant

I may need to start looking for a new hair gel. Admittedly I don't use much but it seems to contain some sort of insect catnip. They buzz around my head like planes at JFK.

Honestly, I doubt I need anything as strong as what I use now anyway. I keep my hair much shorter than I used to so I don't need nearly as much help keeping it in place. I'm not sure where to start looking though as I don't want to spend much money on stuff like this. I've heard of herstyler serum but I'm pretty sure that that is for women if the name were any clue.

What suggestions do you have? What works well and is cheap?

Tablet Envy

I really want a tablet pc. I don't know whether I would prefer an ipod touch or xoom, but they both seem really cool.

I just love new technology and although you can make the argument that a laptop is still much more useful, it's tough to ignore the siren song of new tech gadgets.

Hopefully at some point I'll be able to get one and play around with it and see what everyone is talking about. So far I haven't seen or heard from anyone who had one that didn't love it.